'Star Trek Timelines' Tackles the Bumpy Klingon Canon

Why Klingons look the way they do is an ongoing debate among Star Trek fans, a debate made even more intense by the “new” Klingons coming in Star Trek: Discovery. And now, for the rest of July, the online roleplaying game Star Trek Timelines will get serious about bumpy history of Klingon heritage. Did you remember what Klingons have in common genetically with Khan? Yeah, we thought you forgot about that.

Starting on July 6, the mobile online roleplaying game Star Trek Timelines launched “Klingon Month.” What this means, is that players will participate in mostly Klingon-themed missions for the entire month of July, with each new weekly event starting every Thursday. The next weekly event is called “When Giants Walk,” and will focus on mythical Klingon beasts being reawakened. But, perhaps the most interesting thing about Klingon month, is how much the event has delved into the history of Klingons, specifically the Augment Virus which (retroactively) caused all the original series Klingons to have smooth foreheads.

During Klingon Month, the famous character of Kor pops up a lot, mostly as his 24th century self. Kor was played by John Colicos in the original series episode “Errand of Mercy,” and then returned on Deep Space Nine for several episodes.

Kor in the 23rd century...and Kor in the 24th century!

Why Kor (and Koloth and Kang) had smooth foreheads in the original series and bony foreheads in Deep Space Nine wasn’t explained…at first. But then, the fourth season of Enterprise introduced the concept of the Augment Virus into the Klingon Empire. Basically, Augments were the genetically engineered humans from 20th Century Earth. And the most famous Augment of them all was none other than Khan Noonien Singh. That’s right: Khan’s super-human DNA getting mixed with Klingon DNA is what caused a bunch of Klingons to look more human in the 23rd century. Presumably, Klingons like Kor got their ridges back at some point as they got older.

The Other Side Of Han Solo

The Star Trek Timelines game has another deep-cut from Klingon lore this month too: the Klingon Kortar has also been introduced as a playable character. This is notable since Kortar is like a Klingon mythological mash-up of Adam and Even and Prometheus. He created all of Klingon-kind, but was punished by the gods and forced to steer a Barge of the Dead forever. Kortar, naturally, has a good-and-bony forehead.

Klingon-on-Klingon space battle action in 'Star Trek Timelines'

Now, the new-looking Klingons in Star Trek: Discovery aren’t included in the Star Trek Timelines game…yet. Earlier this year, the lead narrative designer of the game, Jessica Sliwinski, told Inverse “We certainly hope to incorporate the characters and events of that series [Discovery] into Star Trek Timelines alongside all the rest. We are no strangers to releasing content alongside a hit television show.”